Conductor  Vladimir Jurowski
Gretel  Christine Schäfer
Hansel  Alice Coote
Gertrude  Rosalind Plowright
Peter  Alan Held
The Sandman  Sasha Cooke
The Dew Fairy  Lisette Oropesa
The Witch  Philip Langridge

Act I
Hansel complains he is hungry. Gretel shows him some milk that a neighbour has given for the family’s supper. The children dance. Their mother returns and wants to know why they have got so little work done. She accidentally spills the milk, and chases the children out into the woods to pick strawberries.

Their father returns home drunk. He brings out the food he has bought, then asks where the children have gone. The mother tells him that she has sent them into the woods. He tells her about the Witch, and that the children are in danger. They go out into the woods to look for them.

Act II
Hansel picks strawberries. They hear a cuckoo singing and eat the strawberries. Soon they have eaten every one. In the sudden silence of the wood, Hansel admits to Gretel that he has lost the way. The children grow frightened. The Sandman comes to bring them sleep, sprinkling sand over their eyes. The children say their evening prayer. In a dream, they see 14 angels.

Act III
The Dew Fairy comes to waken the children. Gretel wakes Hansel, and they see the gingerbread house. They do not notice the Witch. The Witch decides to fatten Hansel up. The oven is hot. Gretel breaks the Witch’s spell and sets Hansel free. When the Witch asks her to look in the oven, she pretends she doesn’t know how to: the Witch must show her. When the Witch peers into the oven, the children shove her inside and shut the door. The oven explodes. The gingerbread children come back to life. The mother and father find the children, and all express gratitude for their salvation.

Act information courtesy Welsh National Opera

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